Let’s give credit where credit is due. In regards to online advertising, impressions and clicks work together to create a unified, actionable online marketing campaign. However, many people preach one term is better than the other. Let’s explore why both terms are equally important in the lead generation cycle of online advertising.
We ran across a competitor preaching CLICKS DON’T MATTER when debating if impressions or clicks are more important. We feel this couldn’t be further from the truth. Each is equally important and the very nature of what separates online advertising apart from other marketing mediums is the action a consumer can take at the moment of being exposed to an advertisement. So, what does each term mean?
Online Advertising Impressions
An impression is generated or counted every time an online ad loads on a web page. A website visitor normally views these ads and decides to take action based on each ad’s call-to-action. Normally, multiple ads are loaded on a webpage at once, and if not targeted, the webpage user will ignore most of these ads. It’s like driving down the street and seeing multiple billboards. Most of them are ignored, unless the billboard solves a problem that is top of mind for the viewer.
Online Advertising Clicks
A click is the action someone takes to visit a website after viewing an online advertisement. We prefer to call this action a website visit. In marketing, the click normally receives all the credit, but every click requires an impression to occur.
The Importance Of Both
It’s the combination of both branding through impressions and action taken through clicks that should be considered with crafting your campaign. It takes multiple impressions to get a company’s target market to notice them. Most people don’t realize that you have to brand yourself on the web, through impressions, for someone to take action and visit your website. The importance of the impression is the branding aspect and the ability to get an ad in front of someone multiple times. It’s all about frequency.
The click is important because this is the actionable component of the whole campaign. Most smart marketers understand you have to spend time and craft a good call-to-action to get people to take action. The reason for this process is to receive as many clicks as possible. To create a cohesive balance, you have to understand that impressions and clicks are both equally important.
Some organizations preach impressions over clicks, or clicks over impressions, and mislead their clients into believing one is better than the other. If a company is misleading you by emphasizing one over the other, they’re not doing justice to your online marketing campaign.
Want More Information?
To understand how to create better online advertising campaigns, read our article 3 Reasons Your Online Ads Don’t Work.
